The Earldom of
Winton, a title in the peerage of Scotland, conferred by
charter, dated 16th November 1600, on Robert, eighth Lord Seton,
to him, and his heirs male. This nobleman was a great favourite
of King James VI., who,
with his queen, was often at Seton house, Haddingtonshire,
which was built in
that reign, and considered at the time the most magnificently
constructed house in Scotland. His lordship’s father had left
the estate much involved, but by his own and his wife’s prudent
management, he cleared it of all encumbrances. He died in 1603,
and on the 5th April, his funeral procession was met in the
highway by King James, then on his journey to take possession of
the English crown.
Halting his retinue, the king seated himself, till it passed, on
a small part of the building, which still remains entire, at the
south-west corner of the orchard of Seton,
declaring that he had lost a good, faithful, and loyal subject.
The earl married Lady Margaret Montgomery, eldest
daughter of the third earl of Eglintoun, heiress of her nephew,
the fifth earl of Eglintoun, and by her had, with one daughter,
five sons, viz., 1. Robert, second earl of Wintoun, 2. George,
third earl of Wintoun, 3. Alexander, sixth earl of Eglintoun. 4.
Hon. Sir Thomas Seton, ancestor of the Setons of Olivestob. 5.
Hon. Sir John Seton of St. Germains. The daughter, Lady Isabel, married, 1st,
James, first earl of Perth, and 2dly, Francis Stewart, eldest
son of Francis, earl of Bothwell, and had issue to both.

Robert, second
earl of Wintoun, resigned in 1607, the titles and estates to his
next brother, George, who had a charter of the same, 12th May
that year, to him and the heirs male of his body, with remainder
to his younger brothers and the heirs male of their bodies
respectively, whom failing to his nearest male heir, they
bearing the name and arms of Seton. He thus got the earldom in
the lifetime of his elder brother, and became third earl of
Wintoun. On James VI. revisiting Scotland in 1617, he spent his
second night, after crossing the Tweed, at Seton house, and King
Charles I. was twice entertained there, with all his retinue, in
1633. This earl built Wintoun house, in the parish of
Pencaitland, in 1619, and about 1630, through his patronage or
bounty, the fishing village of Port Seton, in the parish of
Tranent, which has its name from the family, had twelve
saltpans, some of which still exist. He was one of those who
waited on the king after the pacification of Berwick in 1639,
and on the ‘Engagement’ being entered into for the rescue of his
majesty in 1648, he gave to the duke of Hamilton, the
commander-in-chief, £1,000 sterling, in
free gift for his
equipage. When Charles II. came to Scotland in June 1650, the
earl waited upon him, and continued with his majesty till
November. He then went home to prepare for
his attendance at the coronation, but died 17th December that
year, aged 65. He was twice married. By his first wife he had
four sons and two daughters, and by his second, four sons and
five daughters.

George, Lord
Seton, the eldest son, was, in May 1645, imprisoned in the
Tolbooth of Edinburgh for his loyalty, fined £40,000 Scots, and
in July following ordered to sell as much of the baronies of
Winchburgh and Niddrie, Linlithgowshire, belonging to the
family, as would discharge the fine. He joined the marquis of
Montrose after the battle of Kilsyth in August the same year,
and was made prisoner at the defeat of the royalists at
Philiphaugh the following month. He was confined first at St.
Andrews, and afterwards in the castle of
Edinburgh, but was liberated on his father giving a bond of
£100,000 Scots for his appearance when called. He died at Seton,
4th June 1648, aged thirty-five. By his wife, Lady Henriet
Gordon, second daughter of the second marquis of Huntly, and
afterwards countess of Traquair, he had George, fourth earl of
Wintoun, and three other sons. Two of his half-brothers,
Christopher and William, were drowned on the coast of Holland in
July 1648; another, the Hon. Sir John Seton, Garletoun, was
created a baronet 9th December 1664, and died in February 1686.
His grandson, Sir John Seton of Garletoun, engaging in the
rebellion of 1715, was taken at Preston 13th October that year,
and died at Versailles, 9th March 1769. This family still
subsists in the male line, though dispossessed of the estate.
The youngest brother, the Hon. Robert Seton of Windygoul, was created a baronet 24th January 1671, but died
without issue before 26th February 1672.

George, fourth
earl of Wintoun, succeeded his grandfather in 1650, being then
about ten years of age. Notwithstanding his youth, a fine of
£2,000 was imposed on him by Cromwell’s act of grace and pardon
in 1654. He afterwards travelled into France, and was in the
French army at the siege of Besançon. On his return home by
England, he was sworn a privy councillor to Charles II. IN 1666
he commanded the East Lothian regiment at the defeat of the
Covenanters at Pentland, and also in 1679 at the battle of
Bothwell Bridge. He afterwards entertained the duke of
Monmouth and his
officers at Seton. In 1682 he was appointed sheriff of
Haddingtonshire, and in May of the same year he accompanied the
duke of York from London to Scotland, when the ship was lost. In
1685 he went with his regiment against the earl of Argyle. A
charter was granted to him 31st July 1686 of the earldom of
Wintoun, to him and the heirs male of his body, which failing,
to whichever person he might nominate and the heirs male of
their bodies, with remainder to his heirs male, and failing
these to his nearest heirs and assigns whatsoever, the eldest
daughter or heir female succeeding without division, and
marrying a gentleman of the name of Seton, or who should assume
the name and carry the arms of the family of Wintoun. He died
6th March 1704.

His son, George,
fifth earl, was abroad at the time of his father’s death, and it
was not known where he resided, as he corresponded with no
person in Scotland. Having been born several years before the
marriage of his parents, and the viscount of Kingston, the next
heir, doubting his legitimacy, the earl in 1710 took the proper
steps for serving himself heir to his father. At the breaking
out of the rebellion of 1715, his lordship, on the evening of
the 11th October, with fourteen attendants, joined the viscount
Kenmure at Moffat, where the latter had that day proclaimed the
Chevalier St. George as James VIII. The force under Kenmure
formed a junction with the English insurgents under General
Forster near Kelso on the 19th October. A council of war was
there held to deliberate on the course to be pursued, at which
the earl of Wintoun strongly urged that they should march into
the west of Scotland, to reduce Dumfries and Glasgow, and
General Gordon, to open a communication with the earl of Mar,
and threaten the duke of Argyle’s rear. It was, however, agreed,
on the urgent representations of the Northumberland gentlemen,
that they should cross the borders and march through Cumberland
and Westmoreland into Lancashire, where the Jacobite interest
was very powerful, and where they expected to be joined by great
numbers of the people. The Highlanders at first
refused to march into England, and separating themselves, took
up a position on Hawick moor, on which the English officers
threatened to surround them with what cavalry they had, and
compel them to march. Exasperated at this menace, the
Highlanders cocked their pistols, and told them that if they
were to be made a sacrifice, they would prefer being destroyed
in their own country. By the interposition of the earl of
Wintoun a reconciliation was effected, and the insurgents
resumed their march. Rather, however, than advance into England,
about 500 of the Highlanders set off in a body to
the north. The earl
of Wintoun, who was quite opposed to crossing the borders, also
went off, with his adherents; but being overtaken by a
messenger, who was dispatched after him to remonstrate with him
for abandoning his friends, he consented to return, and
immediately rejoined the army. When overtaken, he drew up his
horse, and after a momentary pause, as if reflecting on the
judgment which posterity would form of his conduct, observed,
with chivalrous feeling, that history should not have to relate
of him that he deserted King James’ interest or his country’s
good; but, with a deep presentiment of the danger of the course
his associates were about to pursue, he added, “You,” addressing
the messenger, “or any man, shall have liberty to cut these
(laying hold of his own ears as he spoke) out of my head if we
do not all repent it.” At the battle of Preston he had the
command of a party of gentlemen volunteers who were drown up in
the churchyard; but on the surrender of the insurgents he was
taken prisoner, 14th November. On the meeting of parliament on
the 9th January 1716, he and Lords Derwentwater, Nithsdale,
Carnwath, and Kenmure were impeached of high treason, and on
their being brought from the Tower on the 19th, they all pleaded
guilty except the earl of Wintoun, who petitioned for a longer
time to give in his answers. On various pretences he got his
trial postponed till the 15th March, when, after a trial which
occupied two days, he was found guilty, and received sentence of
death. He found means to escape out of the Tower of London, 4th
August following, and immediately fled to France. He died,
unmarried, at Rome, 19th December 1749, aged upwards of 70.

In 1840 the earl
of Eglinton was served “nearest and lawful heir male general,
and also nearest and lawful heir male of provision to George,
fourth earl of Wintoun,” the eleventh Lord Seton, and also Lord
Tranent. This service took place before the sheriff of
Edinburgh, and a distinguished jury, composed of members of the
peerage, several of the judges of the court of session, and of
baronets and gentlemen eminently qualified for legal and
genealogical investigation.

The evidence laid
before the jury was prepared in the same strict and elaborately
comprehensive manner as if it had been necessary to submit it to
the scrutiny of a Committee of Privileges in the House of Lords.
Lord Eglinton produced the most ample and satisfactory proof,
not only of his own propinquity, and of the extinction of all
who were entitled to succeed before him, but also of the
extinction of every collateral male descendant, remote as well
as immediate, of any of the parties who could in any way have
laid claim to the honours preferably to his lordship. A printed
abstract of the whole of the documentary evidence, which was of
great length, was, along with a detailed genealogical table,
laid before the jury, who thus judicially ascertained his right
to the male representation of the house of Wintoun, Seton and
Tranent, and the other honours which were so long held by that
noble family.

Although Lord
Eglinton derives his descent in the Montgomerie line from
ancestors of Norman origin, and through names distinguished in
the battles of Hastings and of Otterburn, and by virtue of that
descent enjoys the Eglinton honours and estates, -- in lineal
male descent from a period equally remote, and through a line of
loyal and patriotic ancestors, his family name is also that of
Seton, and he is the head of the numerous noble and eminent
families who claim to be descended from the Setons in the male
line.

The Wintoun
honours, destined in the first instance to heirs male, were
forfeited by the fifth earl, in consequence of being engaged in
the rebellion of 1715. This attainder had the effect of
forfeiting absolutely the estates to the crown. But, as settled
by the judgment of the House of Lords, in the case of Gordon of
Park, adjudged by Lord Hardwicke, and recognized in many
subsequent cases, the right to the honours was only in abeyance
during the existence of the attainted earl, and the heirs
entitled to succeed under the same substitution with himself.
Accordingly, the right to the honours, which was merely
suspended for a time, revived in the collateral branch of
Eglinton, in consequence of the failure of all the prior
branches in the direct Wintoun line.

The
representation of the family of Wintoun devolved upon the earl
of Eglinton in consequence of the marriage in 1582 of Robert the
first earl of Wintoun with Lady Margaret Montgomerie, eldest
daughter of Hugh third earl of Eglinton. Of that marriage the
third son, Sir Alexander Seton of Foulstrouther, was adopted
into the family, -- became sixth earl of Eglinton, and in 1615
obtained royal grants and confirmations of the estates and
honours of Montgomerie. The present earl of Eglinton is the heir
male of the body of this Sir Alexander Seton, afterwards earl of
Eglinton, and in consequence of the failure of the direct
Wintoun line by the death of Robert the eldest brother without
issue, and of all the male descendants of George the next or
immediate elder brother of Sir Alexander, Lord Eglinton is also
the lineal male representative of the family of Seton (See
SETON, Lord.)

The Scottish
Nation

Or the Surnames,
Families, Literature, Honours and Biographical History of
The People of ScotlandBy William Anderson 1863